FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
613 
Hens should be made to lay in portable boxes, that may 
be carried out occasionally, and the hay or straw composing 
the nest burnt in the box. In this way, thousands of vermin 
may be destroyed. This is particularly beneficial, a day or 
two before a hen brings out her brood. Remove the eggs 
with great care into a box freshly burnt out, and put it in 
the place of the old one. Then immediately burn out the 
one removed. As soon as the chickens are hatched, put 
them into a well lined basket, and if the weather be cool, 
place them near the fire. When all are out of the shell, 
give the hen a thorough greasing under the wings and 
thighs, on the breast, and, most particularly, in the hollow 
between the rump and vent. In this last spot, lice are some- 
times found in a crawling mass six or eight deep. Then the 
chicks may be safely returned to the mother, and if com- 
pelled to roost in & fresh clean place, they will keep clear of 
lice for weeks, and grow twice as fast as lousy ones. 
If perchance, through neglect or accident, they become 
verminous, grease them on the parts named above, and on 
the head and neck. This is the only effectual, certain mode. 
By continued, systematic warfare, the “ nasty critters ” may 
be kept down. If they are not kept down, the chickens will 
be. I have known young fowls so afflicted, three months 
old, no larger than clean healthy chicks of six weeks, run- 
ning about with their heads and necks as featherless and 
more naked than the day they were hatched. 
Before leaving this lousy subject, let me amuse you with 
an incident of experimental philosophy. Last year, 1 
thought I had discovered the grand secret of effectual louse- 
murder. I had six large hens, sitting on about ninety 
choice eggs, game, creole, and booby. My early chickens 
had been much injured by vermin, and I resolved to give 
these summer chicks a better chance. I greased every 
brooding hen from head to tail, and patiently waited the 
result. When the twenty days of each expectant incubatrix 
had expired, I looked under her in vain for the sundered 
shells. No chick, nor chirp, nor sign of life. In a couple 
of days I opened the eggs, and lo 1 each little embryo cock 
and hen appeared “in statu quo” it was when the grease 
was communicated from the hen to the egg, except that it 
was defunct ; — the very hour the pores of the shell were closed 
by the grease, the chickens “ went dead.” 
I mention this incident, inasmuch as Dr. Bennett, in his 
Poultry Book, recommends eggs for hatching to be preserved 
in grease. Try it, and I’ll wager two Chittagong roosters 
against a Bantam, you don’t get a chicken. 
You suggest six compartments as requisite to a perfect 
coop ; among the rest, one for laying, and one for sitting 
This is certainly desirable, if easily effected. But the trouble 
is, a hen will generally sit where she has laid, and nowhere 
else. In some cases they can be moved, but not often with 
success. 
In connection with the subject of coops, I would mention, 
what perhaps everybody knows who pretends to know any- 
thing about poultry: they should always be built fronting 
the south or south-east, and furnished on that side with sev- 
eral glazed windows, to give them, in winter, sun without 
cold. 
Yours, very truly, 
Northumberland, Pa., Oct. 15, 1850. David Taggart. 
P.S. — There is no doubt in my mind, from considerable ex- 
perience, that almost any kind of grease or unctuous matter is 
certain death to the vermin of our domestic poultry; and 
although, if used properly, it will remove all vermin, yet, 
in the case of very young chicks, it should only be used in a 
warm sunny day, and they should be put into a coop with 
the mother, and the coop darkened for an hour or two, and 
every thing made quiet, that they may get a good rest and 
nap after the fatigue occasioned by greasing them. They 
should be handled with great care, and greased thoroughly ; 
the hen also. After resting, they may be permitted to come 
out and bask in the sun, and in a few days will look spright- 
ly enough. 
[By referring to the date of the above letter it will be 
noticed that it was written twenty-four years ago. It has 
not spoiled with age, however, but contains much valuable 
information. Mr. Taggart is yet a fancier and a subscriber 
to the Journal , and has promised us a series of “ Reminis- 
cences ” which we are satisfied will be both instructive and 
entertaining — Ed.] 
Protection to Animals. — It appears that the first 
effort in England to protect animals from cruelty, by law, 
was made by an Irish member of Parliament. In a recent 
article in “ Good Words,” a London magazine, the follow- 
ing occurs : “Up to 1822 there was no statute in any state or 
nation to protect animals from torture and outrage. There 
was thus no effective check to the cruelty that certain classes 
are prone to practice wherever they have the power ; and 
England, if not worse, was certainly little better than other 
countries. These were the days when cock-fighting, dog- 
fighting, bull-baiting, badger-baiting, and other cruel sports 
were the recreations not only of the lower grades, but receiv- 
ing such countenance and support from the wealthy and well- 
born, as made legislation on the subject seem a hard and hope- 
less matter. The more honor to Richard Martin, an Irish 
gentleman and a member from Galway, that, being moved 
with pity for the poor animals, he held a firm front in fighting 
their battle in the House of Commons. He was jeered and 
hooted at, and his words drowned in cock-crowing and other 
unseemly noises, and for his pains he was dubbed “ Humanity 
Dick,” a cognomen which, as in some other cases, time has 
taken care to rob of all the indignity that its originators 
would fain have attached to it. Indeed there is some reason 
to fear that the insults might have been yet more personal, 
if Martin had not been noted as a fine shot, who had fought 
several duels successfully. In addition to some of the lighter 
qualities of his countrymen, he had strong nerve and an in- 
domitable will ; and he was so intensely in earnest for the 
animals that all his faculties were enlisted in their behoof. 
His wit and his ready retorts often stood him in good stead. 
Many stories are told which show this ; on one occasion, 
when speaking in the House, he was interrupted by ironical 
cries of ‘hear, hear!’ He calmly proceeded till he had 
finished his speech, and then, turning round, he demanded 
who had presumed to cry 1 hare, hare !’ No one answered, 
but a member on a back seat slyly pointed to a city repre- 
sentative, when Martin, with a good-humored smile, ex- 
claimed ‘ Oh, ’tis only an alderman 1 ’ and at once walked 
back to his seat amid cheers. His hospitality was of the old 
stamp, and so unbounded that he laid his princely estate in 
Connemara under burdens, and had finally to part with it. 
Terrible stories were told of the after destitution of his 
daughters, which have been proved untrue; but certainly 
there were no more ‘ princesses of Connemara ’ as they had 
been. Such was the man who first pleaded successfully for 
the lower animals in the British Parliament.” 
